The same high level of relevancy Kontera’s Synapse platform brings to websites is now coming to your mobile device.

We’re pleased to introduce you to Kontera’s latest two products, Relevant Ads and Related Information, which provide contextual ads and other information to smartphones like Android devices, and iOS devices such as iPhones, iPads, and iPods.

Relevant Ads are a natural extension of Kontera’s contextual solutions, providing highly relevant ads to attract an engaged audience, now on mobile and iOS devices.  Related Information is a newer concept, where by tapping over the highlighted phrase, you’ll be able to access additional content from across the Kontera network that’s relevant to what you’re reading.

For Apple devices, both solutions are already running live across the websites of Kontera’s over 15,000 Publishers, while Android will be gradually rolled out during the coming days and weeks. All Kontera Publishers automatically receive the full benefits of these mobile solutions without any additional implementation required.

Here’s Tobias Wright, the Digital Strategist for Budget Fashionista, with his initial impressions as a Kontera Publisher:

“Our users are fashion conscious and on the go, and Mobile is a strategic area for us in the coming year and for long term monetization. This seems to be a very elegant solution on the mobile platform that can only benefit our users. Kontera has proven itself to be a very forward thinking partner that is always thinking several steps ahead.”

The specific benefits of Kontera Mobile Solutions for Publishers:

• Maintains clean publisher pages – placement is as links within relevant phrases, where the users are engaged, the text of the page.
• Ads are not shown until consumers opts-in by tapping to see related information to page contents.
• Unlike other ads platforms, which can take up to 25% of an already crowded mobile screen, Kontera requires no additional mobile real estate.
• Already up for all Publishers, without any further implementation necessary.
• If you have a separate mobile site or a different template for your mobile site, then you just need to add the standard Kontera JavaScript to that site.
• Will not slow down your mobile site, as Kontera loads after page is rendered.
• Kontera Publishers will get more exposure for their content, as Related Information refers mobile readers to other sites on the Kontera network covering similar topics.

The advantages of Kontera Relevant Ads for Advertisers:

• Editorial placement within relevant mobile content and within specific topics that’s aligned with what’s relevant to the consumers’ specific topics of interest.
• Placements across Kontera’s network of sites.
• Unlike some other mobile formats these ads are not pinched or panned out of the user’s view frame (because the content is the linked-ad)

Like the entire network, Relevant Ads and Related Information are powered by the Kontera Synapse platform, which uses advanced semantic analysis and user context to understand user intent.

Using Kontera, end users find information that’s relevant to their interests; publishers make their content more interactive, and advertisers gain greater targeting precision and brand engagement.  With the new Mobile Solutions, Kontera is even further extending the value we provide to each of these three groups.

Stay tuned, as Android and iOS devices are only the tip of the iceberg of what we’ve got planned for our contextual mobile ads. In the very near future we’ll be interviewing the project’s Product Manager, who will be sharing the inside scoop on the product improvements and expansions we’re already working on.

Are you up to speed with the latest count: Facebook recently announced that over 350,000 websites  worldwide are now using Facebook’s social plugins introduced last April – the most familiar of which is the ‘Like‘ button.

This piece of information ties in to another “fun fact”: Nearly 65 million users ‘Like’ something through Facebook every single day.

Clearly, people like to ‘Like’, and thousands of publishers already reap the benefits – sharing their news and content via the popular social network site.

The reason the ‘Like’ button has been so effective for so many website owners isn’t exactly a secret. With one mouse click, a link to your latest post or article will instantly appear in the News Feed of your friends’ Facebook accounts. It’s a great way to grow traffic and create a buzz around your website: For every additional person that hits the ‘Like’ button on one of your website pages (including yourself ); an exponential amount of their friends will see what you’ve been raving about.

With over 500 million active users each month (and counting!), and with each user having, on average, 130 friends – there’s a vast audience for the right content to go viral.

As a publisher, you’re naturally interested in increasing your website traffic. If you haven’t already done so, you might want to consider adding the ‘Like’ functionality to your website or blog. If you’d like to get the Facebook ‘Like’ plugin for WordPress, you can do so here, or for Blogger here. And if you’d like to learn more about implementation in general, here’s the Facebook Like Button Page.

Also, don’t forget to ‘Like’ this post. As you can see below, Kontera most definitely practices what it preaches

Sociologists must find these to be fascinating times to live in.  History is being made while the world we live in is rapidly turning into a digitally connected environment. It is a wonder to see the impact web 2.0 has on events that determine the course of our lives.

Provided you’ve been hooked on your RSS feed properly over the past few weeks, you’ve seen the latest accounts on the effects of social networking and blogs on the US Presidential Election Campaign:

In an interesting article in PCWorld.com author Cyndy Aleo-Carreira points out that President-elect Obama’s campaign “reach across social networking was enormous in scope, with a presence on every conceivable social network, from Twitter to Facebook, and MySpace to LinkedIn.” She then concludes her analysis by stating that “the era of the Internet campaign has begun.”  ZDNet quotes interesting elections related FaceBook figures supporting this conclusion:

• President-elect Obama is the most popular page on Facebook, with 2.5 million supporters. Michael Phelps is second with 1.6 million.
• Overall activity on the site on Election Day was up 20 percent.
• More than 5.44 million people clicked the “I voted” button on Facebook to tell their friends they voted.

Presiden-elect Obama didn’t abandon the internet after the campaign’s victorious outcome but rather, he now brings the web into his administration. The Obama administration decided to broadcast the weekly presidential addresses to YouTube and has already began to post videos on Obama’s transition Web site, Change.gov.

The Washington Post reveals that in addition to regularly videotaping the address, officials at the transition office say the Obama White House will also conduct online Q&As and video interviews. The goal, officials say, is to put a face on government.
Being somewhat addicted to social media ourselves, it’s exciting to discover and re-discover how influential online interaction has become.

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We all like to recommend our favorite websites, articles we find interesting or other attention-grabbing news stories.  In fact, social networking largely thrives on the idea that we love to share our web findings with our online friends.  Today, some of us at Kontera gathered to give recommendations of our favorite sites.  Thought you’d be interested in paying a visit:

Adi Elimelech, a Kontera Ruby Developer, recommends www.tripit.com. “Tripit is a site that helps you to quickly organize all your travel plans, and saves you the job by creating an actual itinerary of your trip.  I discovered it after some of my friends used it to plan their trip.  It’s a great website and an original utility- like having a personal automated travel agent”.

Gabi Peles, Kontera’s Director, Product & Operations browses through a relatively new engine, www.mahalo.com. “I discovered Mahalo not long ago and I have come to appreciate it. Mahalo is a kind of a user generated search-engine, where each page provides a rich description of the keyword sought”.

Ariel Gluckson, Publisher Support Coordinator tells about Woot.com. “Woot.com is a site I visit often to see what’s today’s buy. I think it takes a creative edge to blow-out sales tactics. Every day Woot lists one product for a 24 hour time period and sells it at a price well under the retail.  I’d totally recommend anyone to at least have a look”.

Mika Tal, Publisher Services Manager recommends  k21st.wordpress.com.  “K21 is a blog that aggregates all the best of new thought innovation in practically every known field. It includes everything that goes under the conception of futurism, bringing the latest advancements in various fields and incorporating them into one accessible arsenal of knowledge”.

Barak Levi, a QA team member spends his free time learning Ruby (a true programming devotee). His recommendations are all Ruby related. “I recommend www.ruby-lang.org and railscasts.com to anyone interested in getting into the world of Ruby.  These sites contain documentation and guides and screencasts that tell you how to start from zero and build your way up to becoming a top Ruby on Rails programmer.”